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3 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,January 23,2020 w aterloochronicle.ca YOUR CITY Visit waterloochronicle.ca for more coverage When and where Winter often meets its Water- loo by late February, which is why organizers of the city's annu- al Winterloo moved festivities ahead to January last year, hop- ing to capture more of the cold. This year's festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 25 and 26, with the majority of outdoor events taking place both days from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Waterloo Park's central promenade. Other events take place at the public square and throughout the uptown, with various busi- nesses and organizations holding themed attractions at specified times. Cold weather expected The festival is based on winter themes and is obviously depen- dent on having snow and cold weather. "We have some stuff that's not totally snow dependent, but most stuff is, so we're hoping that Mother Nature cooperates with us," said Josh Bean, the city's fes- tival and events specialist. "It looks like it's going to be cold enough, which is good. It's just whether or not we can get enough snow, and if we do get snow, if it stays around." Waterloo was due to get 15-25 centimetres this past Saturday, with the expected temperature hovering around the freezing mark; however, a bit more snow was forecast for this week, with cold in the negatives. Bean likes to call Winterloo "the Goldilocks festival," because everything needs to be just right. "Because the flip side of this is that it can get too cold," he said. What to do Sled dogs, snow carvers, an ob- stacle course, snowman station, scavenger hunt and ice fishing game are staples at the annual fes- tival. Jack the Nimblebus - an in- door playground on a bus - will be stationed near the visitor and in- formation centre. There will also be a Nerf biathlon and Rogers Win- terfest air hockey game. Bean said the ice slide has been relocated near the Perime- ter Institute this year and will be redesigned with a couple bends and curves. "One of the new things that we're doing is a winter disco with a disco ball," Bean said. Other events being led by local engineering students will run on Saturday only, he noted. Uptown 'Comfort Food Crawl' On Saturday you can also join local venues and celebrity judges for the Uptown Business Im- provement Area's inaugural Comfort Food Crawl, comprised of the ninth-annual chili cook-off, second-annual Mac 'n' Cheese Challenge and first-ever Soup Showdown. The friendly competitions run from noon until 4 p.m. A ticket costs $10, with proceeds going to the KW Humane Society. The food competitions attract- ed more than 500 people last year and will be held at three local res- taurants in 2020. The Chili Cook-Off can be found at Kentucky Bourbon & BBQ, the Mac 'n' Cheese Chal- lenge at Abe Erb Brewing Com- pany and the Soup Showdown at Prohibition Warehouse, with awards announced around 3:30 p.m. at Abe Erb. Winter warmth Those looking for a break from the cold can find it at the Visitor and Heritage Information Centre near the train station, sponsored by Tim Hortons. Inside there will be hot chocolate and a series of short films featuring outdoor and winter themes. The Waterloo Public Library is hosting a variety of activities as well, with winter-themed crafts in the children's department all day long, hot chocolate and cook- ies, storytimes and a snowman building challenge. People are also encouraged to take in a free screening of the movie Abominable at the Prin- cess Cinemas, with showtime at 4:30 p.m. 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WINTERLOO Matt Morris carves a sculpture out of snow during Winterloo in 2016. Peter Lee photo BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca WEATHER FORECAST IS LOOKING POSITIVE FOR CITY'S ANNUAL WINTER FESTIVAL, JAN. 25 AND 26